The comments below have not been moderated in advance and are not produced by The Local unless clearly stated.
Readers are responsible for the content of their own comments. Comments that breach our terms and conditions will be removed.

Cavalry arrives for beleaguered homeschool family

Top human rights expert to help in return of child

A top human rights expert who also is accomplished in Swedish law has been assigned to help a homeschool family whose 7-year-old son was taken into custody by police and has been detained by social services agents in Sweden for almost a year.

The startling assignment by Swedish courts of attorney Ruby Harrold-Claesson to the case of Christer and Annie Johansson came only days after WND reported on a campaign by the Home School Legal Defense Association for homeschoolers and others worldwide to contact Swedish authorities about the case.

The Johansson's son, Dominic, was apprehended last year by police on a jetliner as the family awaited departure on a planned move to India, Annie's home country. There were no charges against the family or allegations of criminal activity.

Wait...this can't be real? Do I understand this correctly - even though Homeschooling in Sweden is still technically legal, they detained the child when his family was moving to India - the mom's birthplace, on the charges of...????? And now the family can only see their child every 5 weeks for a short period of time?

Hold on...are you meaning to tell me that Sweden doesn't support homeschooling? Why is that? And what legal basis do they have for taking a child away from his parents who were moving to a different country?

Remember this story too, something funny about it. The family were told they couldn't home school and so decided within a week to up sticks and move to India - if my memory serves. Like you do! Weren't they way out there fundamentalists - that's why they wanted to home school. They should have just moved to Jönköping.

Wild stab in the dark here but guessing VakenMark is connected to Vaken.se the site in Sweden for all things loony-conspiracy. One of their lot was on a program about 9/11 a few months back spouting the usual crap about an inside job.

The bill goes up before parliament sometime in June.I think it is backward that the government here are trying to completely abolish homeschooling in Sweden. People don't always choose it because of religious reasons.Almost every country has legal homeschooling that functions and works.Some people choose homeschooling because their children are not stimulated at school ie. their learning capacity is not met by the system. Others choose it because their children have concentration problems at school, some choose it because their children have social problems ie. mobbing...and we all know about that in swedish schools. Either way, for them to sneak through this bill to take away the human right to make choice is communism at its best.If these people lost their child only for that one reason alone of homeschooling, then the system is very wrong. If it is because of physical harm to the child or real neglect (neglect and the best interests of the child...are by no means homeschooling).Millions of children around the world are home schooled. For the education department to sneak this bill in and the government even to entertain it, violates human rights.

It's a rather simplistic view - the greatest increase in homeschooling in many countries is children with special needs who are being failed by the school system - it is tough to sed your kids into a situation where they face abuse.

In Sweden homeschooling is under much more control than other countries - until the government ban it - in order to be approved- you have to allow your kids to be tested annually on national curriculum subjects- you have to allow the kommun to visit- the child has to be attached to a local school class and spend a certain number of days with them

I am surprised that a government that advocated individual freedoms is treating parents like big brother

I am surprised that a government that advocated individual freedoms is treating parents like big brother

I know where you're coming from Puffin, but aren't individuals freedoms limited where others begin. What I mean is that all children have a right to a proper education. I dont believe that it is any parents freedom to deny this to their kids.

The problem is mainly (all though not exclusively) found with fundamentalist religous parents who do not want their kids taught scientific facts like evolution, or about people of other religions such as the fact that Jews are not actually pigs. Unfortunately, people who genuinely want to provide a balanced education for their kids at home are also bound by the same laws designed to hamper the loonies.

And here lies the core of the issue. In our society we agree to somewhat limit our personal freedoms in order to protect the rights of other people. If we allow uncontrolled home schooling, a significant sub-set of the population will not have had the chanse to form an informed world-view but rather be brainwashed by devisive religious dogma in madrasses and their non-islamic equivalents.

On average most people who are homeschooled are home schooled by extreme religeous people, more or less brainwashing the child into being a hatemonger.

anything factual to support sweeping generalizations based on your opinion? if not, then we'll have to presume that's not a factual statement. oh, and your following statement:

QUOTE (Nemesis @ 4.May.2010, 09:08 AM)

I have encountered home schooled people back home. They are completely screwed up. They can't function in normal society as an adult, as there parents have screwed them up as children.

does not constitute fact nor evidence to the above statement.

QUOTE (Nemesis @ 4.May.2010, 09:08 AM)

Children need to socialise around other children,

and homeschooled children do that through a variety of events. they have friends, neighbors and relatives.

fwiw, i don't advocate homeschooling and i can't buy into the argument of human rights (can anyone explain how schooling a child at home falls under the protection of human rights?) but if there are arguments against they must be more concrete and credible than "everyone i ever met who was homeschooled are screwed up"...or shall we presume you're speaking from your own experiences again?

What I mean is that all children have a right to a proper education. ...The problem is mainly (all though not exclusively) found with fundamentalist religous parents who do no
... (show full quote)

What I mean is that all children have a right to a proper education. ...The problem is mainly (all though not exclusively) found with fundamentalist religous parents who do not want their kids taught scientific facts like evolution,
... (hide full quote)

i thought this was about homeschooling in sweden? puffin addresses those worries in her post

QUOTE (Puffin @ 4.May.2010, 09:55 AM)

In Sweden homeschooling is under much more control than other countries - - you have to allow your kids to be tested annually on national curriculum subjects- you have to allo
... (show full quote)

In Sweden homeschooling is under much more control than other countries -

- you have to allow your kids to be tested annually on national curriculum subjects- you have to allow the kommun to visit- the child has to be attached to a local school class and spend a certain number of days with them

I am surprised that a government that advocated individual freedoms is treating parents like big brother
... (hide full quote)

Your assumptions is that religion and its followers are all fundamentalists in a negative connotation. What about those who are balanced, who allow their children to socialize, expose them to all world views and teach them to think. Not be bigots, but at the same time stand for their beliefs.

Your stereotype of people of faith being using their beliefs as divisive brainwashing is offensive. It lends itself to the point that there is a segment of society who preach tolerance but refuse to practice it with those THEY consider intolerant. A double standard to be sure.

Whether for religious reasons, special needs of the child, social situations (bullying, etc.), or even because a family is transient (ie. foreign nationals working in a country for a short time), homeschooling is a viable option. The burden of educational development lies on the family as does the social development of the child. With national testing as a metric, and the overwhelming availability of social/sports clubs in Sweden, there is no reason why homeschooling shouldn't be an option for whatever reason the PARENTS decide.

And this is the key issue. Who has final authority in a child's life? Once parental authority is stripped away, the foundation of society, the family, is put in jeopardy,

I think that there is a bit of a contradiction here - why is homeschooling bad whereas religious and political organisations starting free schools is OK?

While the government seeks to deny parents the choice of educating their own children - there seems to be no problem with allowing extreme religious, political and parental groups to run small schools:- the Plymouth Brethren started a school- National demokraterna has applied to start a dagis- there was the school in Uppsala which was used by a father to give his own son MVG (grade A) in every subject - even those that were never taught and then he closed it to before he could be prosecuted but after his son had left with top grades

There was a very weird group in Borlänge that got to start a free school - the rektor appeared totally unstable and by the time Skolverket closed it it had just 5 pupils

PSD Media
PSD Media is marketing company that offers innovative solutions for online retailers. We provide modern solutions that help increase traffic and raise conversion. Visit our site at: psdmedia.se